PARIS (AP) — A heavy police presence was in place but few visiting fans were expected as France hosted Israel in Nations League soccer on Thursday, a week after violence erupted in Amsterdam in connection with an Israeli club team’s visit.
French police chief Laurent Nuñez said 4,000 police officers and security staff were deployed in and around the Stade de France, with another 1,500 police on public transport.
Paris authorities have been on high alert following the violence in Amsterdam before and after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Dutch authorities said fans from both sides were involved in the unrest. The assaults on Maccabi fans sparked outrage and were widely condemned as antisemitic.
“What we learned from Amsterdam is that we need to be present in the public space including far away from the stadium," and in public transports before and after the match, Nuñez said Thursday on French news broadcaster France Info.
The game in Saint-Denis, the suburb north of Paris, was scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. local time (1945 GMT). A couple of hours before, a pro-Palestinian demonstration attracted several hundred people to a square in Saint-Denis to protest against the match taking place. There were no reported incidents.
Israel's team bus arrived at the stadium shortly after 7 p.m. local time. Around one hour before kickoff, Nuñez visited the stadium’s video surveillance facilities along with French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.
Three months after hosting the Olympic closing ceremony, the atmosphere has gone from festive to fearful and the national stadium was expected to be three-quarters empty for the match. French President Emmanuel Macron and Retailleau will be present. Former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy are also to attend.
“We will not give in to antisemitism, anywhere. And violence, including in the French Republic, will never prevail, nor will intimidation,” Macron told BFM TV channel.
Less than 20,000 of 80,000 tickets have been sold with around 150 Israel supporters reportedly attending, escorted by police.
“We’ve tried to prepare for this match as normally as possible. But obviously none of us within the team can be insensitive to such a heavy context,” France coach Didier Deschamps said Wednesday. The away match against Israel on Oct. 10 — which France won 4-1 — was played in Budapest, Hungary.
The low number of visiting fans on Thursday comes after Israel’s National Security Council warned citizens abroad to avoid sports and cultural events, specifically the match in Paris.
Retailleau told French news channel TF1 on Tuesday that no specific threats were identified but “zero risk does not exist.”
Therefore, he said, exceptional measures were justified. The elite tactical unit of the French National Police, known as RAID, in the stadium and some police in plain clothes mingling with fans. There was also heavy surveillance within Paris, including at Jewish places of worship and schools.
“It is out of the question that we take the risk of seeing a repeat of the dramatic events, of the manhunt, that we saw in Amsterdam,” Retailleau said, adding that postponing or moving the game elsewhere was ruled out.
“France does not submit, and the France-Israel match will take place where it's supposed to," he said.
In Amsterdam, a number of Maccabi fans attacked a cab and chanted anti-Arab slogans while some men carried out “hit and run” attacks on people they thought were Jews, according to city Mayor Femke Halsema.
After the match, parts of a large group of Maccabi supporters armed with sticks ran around “destroying things,” a 12-page report on the violence issued by Amsterdam authorities said.
There were also “rioters, moving in small groups, by foot, scooter or car, quickly attacking Maccabi fans before disappearing,” it said.
Protests erupted in Paris on Wednesday night against a controversial gala organized by far-right figures in support of Israel.
Nine years ago, Stade de France was one of several locations during the Nov. 13 terror attacks in which 130 people died. France was playing Germany that night when two explosions happened outside the stadium.
Deschamps, Germany coach Joachim Löw and all of the players stayed together in the locker rooms for hours until it was safe to leave.
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AP Sports Writer Samuel Petrequin and Associated Press writer Tom Nouvian contributed to this report. ___
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Jerome Pugmire, The Associated Press
